


The politeness of whales

by just_a_wavefunction



Category: Free!
Genre: (learning sign language probably takes far longer than that but well), Alternate Universe - Environmental Activists, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Captain Makoto, First Officer Rin, Friendship, Gen, Injury, JSL, Kou is a Tech Genius, M/M, Mutual Life-Saving, Nagisa can't Handle Compliments, Saving the Whales, Water is Alive, a dead sea turtle, crew sticking together, dubious medical facts, reckless behaviour
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-22
Updated: 2016-09-22
Packaged: 2018-08-16 17:39:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8111398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_a_wavefunction/pseuds/just_a_wavefunction
Summary: Makoto is captain of the Ever Blue, a small ship belonging to a Japanese anti-whaling-organisation. During their mission of taking down the Iwatobi, he rescues the merman Haru, and well. It's not like his life changes drastically after that. But it doesn't quite stay the same either.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not really sure about this one. But they say, write the story you want to read, and I like mermaids, so there it is.
> 
> In case it's not obvious, this is not meant to be political in any way btw. While I definitely don't support whaling (like... who does), the issue is a little bit more complicated than “evil whale murderers vs heroic saviour activists”. I hope you can enjoy it as the mermaid story that it is :-)

 

 

 

Fifteen minutes.

Without thinking, Makoto takes a sharp turn to the left. He has perfectly memorised all of the Iwatobi's blueprints they could get their hands on, so fifteen minutes should easily be enough to get into the engine room and break something before he gets caught. They're lucky, really, that the Iwatobi's crew is so small and can't afford a tighter night watch schedule; then again, they have been preparing this sabotage for months now, and very little has been left to luck.

Makoto rounds the third-to-last corner on his route when suddenly, he hears a quiet whimper coming from one of the lab rooms.

It sounds human.

He slows down to a halt. What would an injured person do at this hour of the night alone in a lab room? It makes no sense for it to be anything other than an animal. Unless –

A horrible realisation sends a chill down Makoto's spine. He walks back to the lab room where the sound came from and tries to push the door open. It's not even locked.

He swallows hard and takes his radio out.

„Rin? Sousuke? Do you read?“

„Yeah.“

„What is it?“

„We're aborting this mission. Sousuke, you have five minutes to finish whatever you were doing and to get back to the jet skis immediately. We can't afford getting caught. Rin, wake Rei up and have him on stand-by in the vet lab. That's an order,“ he adds for good measure because he knows how stubborn his crew can be.

„What?“ Rin exclaims. „Hang on, why?“

„They caught a.“ Makoto swallows again. „A merman.“

Rin swears under his breath.

„Got it,“ Sousuke says. „See you in five minutes then.“

Makoto slips the radio back into the pocket on his belt and walks further into the room, carefully closing the door behind him. The merman is stretched out on the lab table, trying to push himself up on his elbows, tail – dolphin-type, apparently – hanging limp over the edge. Makoto feels the colour drain from his face when he notices the two bleeding stumps right where his fins should have been. He'll have to be very fast.

„Don't be scared,“ Makoto says in the most gentle voice he can muster. „I'm here to help.“

The merman is staring at him, eyes wide from sheer panic. Belatedly, Makoto realises he's still wearing the black mask he put on for the mission. He rips it off quickly.

„Better?“

The merman does relax a little bit, which surprises Makoto – he seems delirious from blood loss, and yet he can still make the difference between a hostile crew member and someone he's never seen before? – but he doesn't have the time to question his luck. He makes a beeline for the medicine cabinet and takes out anything that could be useful to stop the bleeding. Even more surprisingly, the creature on the table seems to understand what he's doing, as he lays back down and concentrates his efforts on lifting his tail so that Makoto has an easier time wrapping the bandages around.

When he's done everything he could – Rei will have to work on this one – he throws his jacket over the tail to try and prevent heat loss and then moves to lift the merman into his arms.

“We're leaving,” he explains even though he's positive the guy doesn't understand him.

The merman curls into himself a bit more and clings to Makoto's shirt. His unsettlingly blue eyes are still wide in delirium, but the panic seems mostly gone, replaced by a state of detached shock. Makoto tries not to look at him too much.

He doesn't let go of Makoto, not on the way back to the jet skis nor when they're driving to their main vessel, the Ever Blue. Getting on board with a merman holding onto him isn't an easy task, but Sousuke and Rin are there to help.

“Damn,” Rin says when he sees the creature. “They've really outdone themselves this time, haven't they?”

“I knew shark fins sold well,” Sousuke muses, “but dolphin...”

The merman's fingernails dig into Makoto's skin through the fabric of his shirt. “I'll bring him down to Rei. Tell Nagisa to get us out of here. They'll have noticed he's missing by now.”

Rin raises an eyebrow. “You do realise that it's going to be incredibly hard to find the Iwatobi again now that they know we're after them, right?”

Makoto sighs. “I'll talk to Amakata-san tomorrow. If anyone asks, I'm assuming full responsibility.”

“Are you kidding me?” Rin makes a vague hand-gesture towards the merman. “This, this is our job. You did everything right. Now go save a life.”

With a grateful smile, Makoto heads down to the vet lab. The merman is still conscious, but his grip on Makoto's shirt is starting to grow weaker. Makoto pushes the door open with his elbow; Rei is already waiting inside, preparing the table. At the sight of the merman his jaw drops.

“Makoto-senpai...”

As gently as possible, Makoto lays his cargo onto the table. Predictably, the merman's breathing quickens; his track record with being laid on tables probably isn't a very good one. His inhuman eyes widen even more. This time, Makoto doesn't look away.

“You're lucky to get such an interesting first mission,” he tells Rei who, thankfully, has snapped into action and is already unwrapping the merman's tail. “Whaling fleet sabotage operations usually don't go like this.”

“Should we sedate him? The stress of a new environment might be too much.”

Makoto thinks about it; it certainly would make things easier for all of them, and the merman definitely looks like he could need some sleep.

“Only a small dosage,” he replies. “He's nearly unconscious from blood loss anyway. This is going to hurt a little bit,” he adds to the merman, trying hard to keep the gentle smile on his face, “but it's for your own good.” On an impulse, he finds his hand and squeezes it; the merman squeezes back. He doesn't even react when Rei sticks the syringe into his arm.

Once Makoto is sure the merman is sedated, he sighs deeply and slumps back on his heels into a kneeling position on the floor.

“You should get some rest,” Rei says while disinfecting and dressing the wounds properly.

“In a second,” Makoto promises. “Is he going to be okay? Does he need a transfusion?”

“He's lost a lot of blood, but if he was still conscious when you found him, a substitute solution will be fine.”

He smoothes out the creases that the merman's fingers left in the fabric of his shirt. “I should be there when he wakes up.”

“I'll tell Rin-senpai to call you. Now please, go to sleep.” With a smile, he adds, “Doctor's orders, Makoto-senpai.”

That makes Makoto chuckle. “No need to go all CMO on me. Alright, I'm off.” Before leaving, he turns around once more to take a look at the sleeping figure on the table. “Don't forget the thermal blanket when you're done. His skin felt really cold.”

Rei nods. “Aye, captain.”

 

–

 

“I could get you suspended for jeopardising a mission, you know.”

Makoto winces at the tinny voice coming through the radio. Next to him, Rin rolls his eyes. “Yes, I know, Amakata-san.”

“We've worked toward this for weeks. Our objective was disabling the Iwatobi. We won't get a chance like this in some time now, do you understand?”

“I do. Permission to speak freely?”

An amused sigh from the other end. “We're not actually in the military, Tachibana.”

“Our objective is preserving and protecting marine life. I believe that's what I did yesterday.”

“Stopping the Iwatobi would have saved many more lives than just one.”

An image of the merman suddenly pops into Makoto's head, spread out on a table and bleeding. “Are you telling me I should have let an _actual merman_ die, just for the possibility of _hypothetical whales_ not being killed this season?”

“Of course not. I'm telling you to think of the bigger picture. What you did was the right thing, just not the most efficient. I'm expecting you and your crew to put in as much work as you can in order to get back on the Iwatobi's tracks.”

“Of course.”

“Why are you even telling him this?” Rin interjects. “Nagisa's the one who localised the Iwatobi in the first place. We're not stupid. He didn't do anything wrong, and you're helpless without us anyway.”

Her raised eyebrow is practically audible. “Ah. I see you still keep that charming first officer around?”

“I mean, he's the best there is,” Makoto says fondly. Rin grins at him.

“What a sweet thing to say,” Amakata comments. “Still, I recommend you keep whatever fraternising is going on off record, alright?”

Rin's grin turns into a cough. “Right. Are we done here or what?”

“When is your debriefing?”

“I'll do it after our guest has woken up,” Makoto says.

“Good. Send a report to me as soon as possible. First priority now is finding the Iwatobi, but keep an eye open for the Samezuka as well.”

“Would be kind of hard to miss such a huge whaler,” Rin says. “Ever Blue out.”

“Ama-chan sounded tense there,” Nagisa comments from across the bridge. He and Kou are busy trying to repair the radar; Makoto doesn't really get what they're doing, but he trusts each of his crew members blindly.

“She probably feels like she's losing footing,” Kou says, elbow-deep in wires. “We need a victory soon, or at least a good story to sell to the media. Actually, saving a merman _is_ a pretty good story.”

“We're not selling this to anyone,” Makoto says immediately. Kou doesn't push it.

“Why are you on the bridge, anyway?” Rin asks. “I thought you were the engineer?”

“Kou-chan is cross-specialising in navigation!” Nagisa exclaims.

“Yeah, I'm planning ahead for my mutiny,” Kou explains. “If we happen to have another setback like this, I'll seize control of this vessel and bring us all back, mission accomplished or not.”

Rin leans forward on his elbows. “And why the hell would you do that?”

Kou prods a half-corroded wire with the tip of her screwdriver. “Because, unlike you, dear brother, _I_ have a wife waiting at home.”

“She's not your _wife_.”

“She will be the moment I step on land again.”

“Who gets married at twenty-five?”

She blows a strand of hair out of her face. “Sorry for having my life together. Clips, Nagisa.”

“ _Having your life together_? You came out to me using that fucking song on Youtube!”

“Like your method was any better.” She takes the clips out of Nagisa's extended hand. “A text message? Really? You couldn't say _By the way, I've been dating my best friend for three months now_ to me in person?”

Luckily, before their bickering can go any further, the intra-ship communicator starts chirping. Rin presses the switch.

“Yeah?”

“Rin-senpai? This is Rei. Please tell Makoto-senpai that the merman is waking up.”

Makoto hops off his chair, excitement rushing trough him. “I'll be right there.”

“Hey, Rei-chan!” Nagisa calls. “What's your favourite colour?”

“Um.” There's a short pause. “Purple, I suppose. Why are you asking, Nagisa-kun?”

Nagisa cuts a purple wire. “No reason at all.”

 

–

 

Makoto rushes into the vet lab right when the merman opens his eyes. He's wrapped in a thermal blanket and has an IV line hanging on his arm, but otherwise he seems fine. Makoto expects him to panic or at least be disoriented, however all that shows on the merman's face is mild confusion and curiosity, and a dawning recognition when he sees Makoto in the door. He tries to sit up.

“No, don't do that,” Makoto quickly says, crossing the room in two strides. “Stay down.”

Somehow the merman must understand what he's getting at. Obediently, he lays back down and reaches out to squeeze Makoto's hand instead.

“You're welcome,” Makoto says, takind a wild guess that this is his way for thanking him.

He turns to Rei who is going through data from a blood sample.

“That's the part where I remind you that you need sleep, too,” Makoto says.

Rei pushes his glasses up; his eyes sparkle with excitement. “I am still within my optimal period of being awake, Makoto-senpai. And I need to run the standard tests to make sure he isn't sick.”

“He doesn't understand what we're saying, right?”

“Probably not. Out of the six mermaids that have been sighted so far, no report mentioned anything similar to human speech.” His glasses reflect the blue light of the computer screen. “We know next to nothing. This is an incredible scientific opportunity.”

Makoto sighs. “I know you know this, Rei, but please keep in mind that he's a guest and not a lab rat.”

Rei's hand stills on the keyboard. “Of course. I'm sorry, Makoto-senpai. I got carried away.”

“Yeah, I know. First mission is always a bit overwhelming.” He pauses for a while, looking at the merman who is now fiddling with his blanket and still seems relatively relaxed, all things considered. “I was thinking, we could try teaching him sign language?”

“You think he's intelligent enough for that?”

“I mean, he has obviously already understood that he's not in the Iwatobi's lab anymore, and even in the state he was in yesterday he was still capable to rationalise that I wasn't part of the crew that caught him. I think it's worth a shot.”

“It would be amazing if you managed to do that,” Rei slowly says. “We could learn so much.”

“Yeah, we'd really...” He trails off. “Hang on a second. If _I_ managed to do that? Why me?”

Rei turns around on his chair and sighs. “I know he might seem fine right now, Makoto-senpai, but there is still a very high chance that his time on the Iwatobi has left him with some kind of trauma, not to mention his wounds that still need to heal. Out of the crew, you and I are the only ones with enough veterinary and medical knowledge to supervise him, and he already has a positive impression of you due to the rescuing. You seem like the most logical choice for the task.”

Makoto isn't fooled that easily. “You're trying to get me off the bridge, aren't you.”

“Honestly? Yes. I think you've been pushing yourself a little bit too hard for this mission, Makoto-senpai.” Rei flashes an encouraging smile. “You should let your crew handle things for you for a while.”

“Like Rin can handle anything by himself.” Makoto sighs and rubs his temples; it's true that the stress of the last weeks is starting to take its toll on him. He pulls out a folding chair from behind a shelf and sits down next to the examination table. “Alright, I'll be on merman duty. You tell me if anything unusual comes up in the blood results. And keep in touch with the bridge, just to make sure Nagisa doesn't burn anything.”

“Nagisa-kun does seem like the kind of person capable of setting the ocean on fire,” Rei agrees.

With a quiet chuckle, Makoto turns his attention back to the merman. He has finally managed to sit up, carefully testing the movements of his arms and his tail. The tail still seems to hurt if the flinching and the scowl are any indication.

“Hello,” Makoto says, accompanying the word with a sign. His JSL is a bit rusty, but it'll be enough for the start.

The merman stops in his movements and looks at Makoto. Apparently, he has understood the attempt at contact.

“I'm Makoto,” Makoto continues, figuring a name would be good. “Who are you?”

The merman looks confused, so Makoto repeats everything, a bit slower this time.

“I am Makoto.”

“Makoto,” the merman signs, perfectly imitating the gesture. Makoto would be lying if he said he wasn't impressed.

“And you?”

The merman frowns again, then seems to catch on. He makes a noise somewhere between a breath and a growl.

“Hang on – Hara?” Makoto tries. The merman makes the noise again.

“Haru. Haru? Is that it?”

The merman inclines his head, signs “I am” like Makoto did before, then makes the noise, making it sound a bit closer to Makoto's pronunciation this time.

“Haru it is, then.” Makoto adds the sign he'd make for someone called Haruka, the closest he can come up with. Haru repeats after him. “Are you writing that down, Rei?”

“Re-naming the file right now, Makoto-senpai.”

Haru looks over to Rei who has stopped going through his data and is watching them with interest. He makes the sign that Makoto used to ask him for his name, then points at Rei with a questioning look on his face.

“That's Rei,” Makoto explains.

“Hello Haru-san,” Rei signs, smiling.

“Hello Rei,” Haru signs back.

Makoto glances at Rei's surprised face. “He's, ah... catching on rather quickly.”

“Fascinating,” Rei breathes. Then his eyes widen all of a sudden. “Oh! I almost forgot. He must be hungry.” He walks over to a cupboard and gets out several cans of different fish. “We only have tinned food, I'm afraid, but that'll have to do for now. What do dolphins eat, usually?”

An idea takes shape in Makoto's mind. “Let's ask him.”

He opens a can of tuna, a can of mackerel and a can of sardines and puts them on three separate plates.

“This is tuna,” he signs, “this one is mackerel, and those are sardines.”

Haru looks at the plates, apparently only now realising how hungry he is. Still, he doesn't just reach for the fish, but repeats the signs first. Then he points at the mackerel and makes the sign for it again.

“You like mackerel?” Makoto asks.

“I like mackerel,” Haru confirms, picking up the piece of fish from the second plate. When he's done eating, he leans back on his elbows and looks at the ceiling for a while.

“I like Makoto,” he then signs.

Makoto grins. He really is catching on quickly.

 

–

 

Once the news spread that Makoto's teaching their new passenger sign language, it's difficult to keep the rest of his crew members away from Haru. Nagisa is the most enthusiastic, since he's usually the most enthusiastic about everything; Makoto isn't quite sure if it's just interest in the merman that draws his navigator so frequently to the vet lab or also interest in Rei, but in the end it isn't really any of his business. Haru is an incredibly fast and eager learner, and by day eight they manage to hold an actual conversation that isn't just made of repeating sentences and mirroring each other.

“I want to swim,” Haru tells him that day.

“You mean, go back into the ocean?” There is no way Makoto's letting him leave now, not a mere week after the injury. “I'm not sure. Your wounds...”

“No, not back into the ocean. Just swimming.”

It makes sense; if Haru is anything like a human he's bound to feel locked up after eight days on a lab table. Still, it's risky. “Does your tail hurt?”

“No. I think the wounds are...” He makes a covering motion with his hands.

“Closed?” Makoto guesses.

“Closed, yes.”

Sure enough, a tender layer of skin has grown over the two large cuts. It hasn't healed by far, but it should be good enough for just a bit of swimming...

“I'll think of something,” Makoto promises. He's sure they have a bunch of metal wire lying around somewhere; maybe with Kou's help, he can construct some sort of cage to attach to the side of their ship. It might be a bit complicated, but the hopeful look on Haru's face just about triples his resolve.

“You really must be bored here,” he suggests.

Haru shakes his head. “No, I'm not bored. Nagisa and Rei and you, you make it... not boring.”

“Interesting?”

“Interesting. But I miss the water.” Makoto notices how he signs 'water', not 'ocean'. He tries to imagine himself in Haru's position, forced to stay in the water, the land just a few feet away but always out of reach. It seems very frustrating.

“Do humans not swim?” Haru asks after a moment of silence.

“Not all of us. We don't have to. Some people don't like it, so they don't, and other people like it, so they do. We do need to drink water, though. There's a lot of it inside our bodies.”

Haru nods. “Water is alive.”

“I guess you could say that.”

“Do you like swimming?”

Makoto smiles, thinking back to his time on the university swim team with Rin and Rei. “Yes. It's why I'm here.” Among many other and arguably more important reasons, of course, but he hasn't quite gotten around to explaining to Haru what exactly it is they do on the ship.

“Then we should swim together,” Haru says, swishing his tail around. “It helps with, with understanding.”

It's not the first time he makes a statement that causes Makoto to wonder just how intelligent and reflecting mermaids in general are; however, it is the first time he thinks that maybe, there's a chance that he and Haru can actually be friends.

 

–

 

Kou accepts Makoto's suggestion of building a pool cage with a shrug and an “I'm bored as hell anyway”, and they get to work as fast as possible. It takes them barely half a day to figure out how to best construct the thing, then two more days after that to actually do it. Nagisa has appointed himself the task of keeping Haru company during that time, alternating between showing him different maps of the area they're in and the most ridiculous gems of his horror movie collection.

“You, uh, don't think that him watching people get cut into pieces might trigger something?” Makoto asks that time he makes the mistake of walking in on one of the movies.

“We're not watching any of that!” Nagisa reassures him. “Just the really bad ones with the ghosts and dead people in the water and stuff.”

“I can confirm that the movies contain very little to no potential triggers, considering you're watching them in _my_ laboratory,” Rei grumbles. “I do agree that they are tremendously bad though, and that Haru-san might die from overexposure to sheer idiocy.”

Nagisa grins up at Rei from his chair. “That's not a problem since he spends so much time with you, Rei-chan! Your intelligence should be enough to counter-balance.”

Rei huffs instead of answering. Makoto doesn't need to look to know that the tips of his ears are red.

Haru, who has only looked up briefly when Makoto came into the room, doesn't really care for any of what's happening. Instead, he is completely focused on the laptop screen in front of him.

“Do you understand what the movie is about?” Makoto asks.

Haru gives him a blank stare. “No.”

“I tried to explain the plot,” Nagisa elaborates, “but it's so dumb that I didn't really know how to phrase it.” He kicks his legs back and forth. “How is your little construction project going?”

“Ah, yes, actually.” Makoto clears his throat. “It might be ready for a test swim.”

Haru, who was only half watching him sign, suddenly snaps his head around. “Test swim?”

“Yeah.”

Nagisa claps his hands together. “Oh, that's great! Can I-”

“You,” Rei interrupts him, “are needed on the bridge. I just got a message from Sousuke, he says he might have spotted something but wants your confirmation.”

“But Sou-chan is a good navigator! He doesn't really need my help.”

“Nagisa-kun, this is the person that managed to steer the ship around in a circle not once, not twice, but three times in a single day. I have great respect for Yamazaki-san, but yes, he does need your help.”

Nagisa makes a face and leaves for the bridge, while Makoto picks up Haru and carries him out onto the deck where they've attached their pool cage to the side of the ship. When he lowers Haru into the water, the merman lets out a deep sigh of contentment, and Makoto suddenly suspects that this night be the happiest he has ever managed to make anyone.

He sits down at the edge of the ship to dangle his legs into the water. The cage isn't very deep nor very long or wide, so that it doesn't hinder the ship's movements too much, but Haru doesn't seem to mind. He swims a few laps back and forth, tail swishing around in elegant arches. It's far more mesmerising and beautiful than Makoto had expected, even with the missing frontal fins.

“You're staring,” Haru notes after a while.

Makoto blinks. “I suppose I am.”

Haru lifts his tail a bit until most of it is just out of the water. “Do you want to touch it?”

“Wouldn't that be strange?”

“It's fine. It's just a body part.”

With hesitation, Makoto reaches out a hand. He hasn't touched Haru's tail for anything other than bandage-wrapping purposes, and as soon as his fingers hit the rough grey skin it feels weird to him.

“Sorry,” he says, pulling back. “I shouldn't have.”

“It's fine, Makoto,” Haru repeats.

“No, it's not. You're not an animal.”

Haru glances to the side, deep in thought. Makoto doesn't expect him to understand.

Suddenly the merman surges forward, runs his hands down Makotos calves and gives his feet a squeeze. Makoto yelps in surprise, and also because he's the most ticklish person on this vessel, but nobody needs to know that.

“What was that for?”

Haru folds his arms on Makoto's knees and rests his head on top of them.

“Now we're even,” he signs.

Makoto is pretty sure he doesn't imagine the smug grin on the merman's face.

 

–

 

Ever since Haru has started living in the makeshift pool, life on board has nearly gone back to normal. The vet lab isn't crowded anymore since most of the crew members can just drop by Haru's new home for a few minutes if they want to without actually leaving their shift, a situation that both Makoto and Rei are extremely grateful for – Makoto because he doesn't have to drag Nagisa back to the bridge all the time, Rei because he finally has some of his peace back. Apparently, he's started to cross-specialise in tech, judging by the various devices and pieces that are starting to pile up in the top drawer of his desk and by the frequency with which Kou is showing up in the lab, a circuit drawing or a scrap piece of metal in hand.

“We're only very few people,” Makoto explains to Haru one evening, when the sun has long set and most of his crew are asleep. “Which is why everyone needs to cover at least two areas. For example, I'm mainly on the mission team with Sousuke, but I've studied veterinary sciences and I've had basic medical training, just like Rei.”

“Sousuke doesn't come here often,” Haru comments. This time, his head is resting directly on Makoto's thighs since it's easier to sign with free hands and eye contact. With only the moon and the stars above as light sources, his pupils have dilated to almost normal size. Makoto knows it's a silly thing to think, but it makes him look just that much more human.

“Rin is usually the one to drag him out. He just really isn't one for socialising. It took me forever to have conversations with him that were longer than half a minute. An excellent crew member though.”

“It's fine if he doesn't like me.” Even Haru's shrugs look graceful. “I don't like him either.”

Makoto makes a face. “I guess you're allowed not to like people, but... you really should give him a chance.”

Haru just hums quietly, which ends that discussion. Makoto is still not really over the fact that it took him barely four weeks to understand concepts like veterinary science and mission teams and socialising, and in truth he doesn't know how much of what he's saying Haru actually understands, but they're here and they're talking to each other and it's real.

“It's late,” Haru says after a moment of silence. Makoto resists the temptation of running a hand through his hair.

“Do you want to sleep?”

“Shouldn't you?”

Actually, scratch that. Makoto is pretty sure Haru understands way more than they think he does.

“Probably.”

“You're out here very often at night,” Haru observes, expression casually curious. “Why?”

Makoto sighs. He doesn't really like talking about it much, but he supposes there's no harm in telling Haru. “It's a bit silly.”

“I promise I won't laugh at you until after you're done talking.”

Makoto shoves him into the water. “Idiot.”

Haru swims an elegant half-circle and goes back to his position on Makoto's legs as if nothing happened.

“I'm afraid of the ocean,” Makoto admits after some time. “It's hard for me to fall asleep when we're out at sea like that, so I guess I just don't sleep very much.”

Haru considers it for a while. The moonlight makes his eyes look dark and even bluer than usual.

“It's not silly,” he eventually signs. “The ocean can be a scary place.” He swirls his tail around lazily. “It's also very beautiful. Many scary things are.”

Makoto releases a breath he didn't know he was holding. He expected questions like _what happened_ and _why on earth are you on this ship then_ , but they don't come, and he is incredibly grateful for that.

Just when he thinks silence has settled for good this time, Haru breaks it again.

“I'm also afraid.”

That catches Makoto off-guard. “Really? Of what? Don't feel forced to tell me,” he adds, just in case.

Haru rolls his eyes, but he won't quite look up. “Of people.”

“Humans?”

“Humans. Mermaids, like me. People in general.” He frowns, fishing for words. “I'm not good at – I don't like being around them.”

A shiver runs down Makoto's spine that has nothing to do with the weather. “Should I – should we leave you –”

Haru rolls his eyes again. “No,” he signs with emphasis. “You're fine. You, Nagisa, Rei, Rin, Kou, even Sousuke, you're fine. I meant it when I said I like you, you know.”

Makoto sighs in relief. He doesn't want to think about leaving Haru alone, not now when they were still becoming friends, still learning how to communicate –

“So does this mean you've lived alone up until now?”

“Mostly. My parents were there for some time, but.” Makoto doesn't say anything, just waits for him to go on. “I'm not the first mermaid to get caught in these waters, and they weren't as lucky as me.”

Usually, these kinds of stories only help to fuel a deep-seated anger towards the whaling fleet and industry as a whole within Makoto, but the fact that it's Haru's _parents_ makes him feel more sadness than anything else. He's surprised there's still enough hope left inside of him to not have turned completely cynical after all.

“I'm sorry,” he signs.

Haru raises an eyebrow at him. “What?”

“I mean, I grieve with you. I'm sad because something bad happened to you. But that sounds too dramatic, so people just say 'I'm sorry'.”

“It was a long time ago. You're not going to cry, are you?”

Makoto can't help but smile. “I don't think so. So you...”

“What?”

“You don't have anyone to return to?”

Haru shrugs. “I guess not. Don't you?”

“I do, actually. My, well, my parents, and my little sister and brother.”

“Do you miss them?”

Makoto's smile widens. “Every day.”

“Why are you here, then?”

He thinks about what exactly to say but gives up halfway because he knows Haru will understand him anyway.

“Because this is bigger.”

 

–

 

He's kind of surprised to see Rin instead of Nagisa perched in front of the laptop with Haru one of the following days.

“Hey Makoto,” Rin greets him with his wide trademark grin. “I'm trying to explain the plot of _When Harry met Sally_ to dolphin guy, but he doesn't seem to get it.”

Makoto raises an eyebrow. “What plot?”

“See?” Haru turns to Rin. “He agrees with me.”

“Both of you are terrible people,” Rin declares, pushing himself out of the pool cage. “I'll be back on duty to listen to Nagisa complaining about not having a lead. You two have fun being completely unromantic idiots.”

Makoto watches him disappear with an amused smile. “You've been hanging out with Rin more?”

“He's a great swimmer,” Haru says in way of an explanation. “But I prefer Nagisa's horror movies. What's a dork?”

“Uh.” Makoto thinks about how to phrase that best. “Someone who is weird and a little awkward, but in an endearing way?”

Haru's eyes are innocently wide, but Makoto _knows_ he's smirking. “Like you then.”

Makoto kicks some water into Haru's face and wonders how anyone could possibly think of mermaids as anything other than human.

 

–

 

One night Makoto's woken by the insistent beeping of his radio. Groggily and with eyes still closed from sleep, he gropes around for his belt and reaches for the annoying thing, wishing not for the first time that saving whales were less of a 24/7-job.

“What?” he grunts.

“Oh, thank God.” That's Rin; to Makoto's alarm, he sounds vaguely panicked. “Look, Mako, I know you need to sleep but there's something wrong with Haru so you might want to come up here for a second.”

At the mention of Haru Makoto is already halfway out of his room. “Coming.”

The scene that greets him on deck is a strange one.

Rin is crouching close to the edge of the ship, one arm loosely extended towards Haru. Haru, who is pressed against the wall of the pool cage, eyes blown wide with terror.

Makoto comes to a halt; he only now realises he's been running. “What happened?”

Rin points to the other end of the cage. “I've spent a good fifteen minutes trying to calm him down, but...” He trails off.

There's a sea turtle floating just outside the pool. Soft waves are pushing its body against the wires of the cage; its eyes are closed. Makoto's stomach turns when he sees that all four of its fins have been cut off.

“Haru...”

Without hesitation, he drops to the floor, legs sliding over the ship's edge into the cold water. Haru darts forward almost at the same time, faster than anything Makoto has ever seen, and buries his face in Makoto's lap. His hands curl into his shirt; he's trembling.

Feeling somewhat helpless, Makoto pulls him closer and starts running a hand through his soft, damp hair.

“It's okay. You're safe,” he whispers, not sure if he'll be understood but also not really giving a damn.

Gradually, Haru's breathing slows down. Rin watches them from a distance at first, then sits down next to Makoto, seemingly just as much at a loss for what to do as his captain. After what feels like an eternity but is probably closer to a few minutes, Haru lifts his head from Makoto's thighs.

“Sorry,” is the first thing he signs.

Makoto smooths down his hair. “Don't be. It's normal.”

Haru looks away, something like shame in his eyes.

With a loud sigh, Rin hops to his feet and leaves. Not a minute later, he's back, a pole in his hands. He leans over the railing and carefully fishes the turtle out.

Makoto swallows. “Is it...?”

Rin nods, stroking the poor animal's head. “I'd suggest a burial, but we're kind of in the middle of the ocean.”

Makoto nods slowly. Haru's arms are around his waist now; he's still shaking a bit, but the hand in his hair seems to soothe him.

“Thank you,” the merman signs, looking at Rin with as much composure and sincerity as he can muster. Rin waves it off, clearly moved.

“You're welcome. Or whatever. I'll –“ He stops, breath catching in his throat, which Makoto kind of saw coming. Of course Rin's the one to nearly cry over a dead sea turtle. “I'll put it back into the water on the other side.”

When it's just the two of them, Haru starts signing again after a while. Only now does Makoto notice how pale he looks.

“They cut the left fin off first.” His fingers are trembling. “It hurt so much that I didn't even feel what they did to the right one.”

Makoto wants nothing more than bury his face in Haru's hair and hold him close, but he needs to listen first.

“I _know_ I'm safe now. So why am I still scared?”

“What they did to you was wrong.” He's weighing his words, signing slowly. This needs to get across. “You're allowed to feel about that whatever way you need to. You're stronger than them already.”

The look on Haru's face kind of breaks his heart then.

“What if I'm not? What if I just die once I'm back out there?”

The awareness of one's own mortality is, as people like to say, what sets humans apart from every other living creature. Makoto hangs onto that thought as he blinks away the tears forming in the corner of his eyes.

“I'm not letting you die.”

 

–

 

“What in the name of the seven seas is that?”

Rei fidgets in his seat. “It's, ah, a project that Kou-san and I have been working on lately.”

Makoto approaches the strange object on Rei's desk, knowing better than to prod it with his fingers, what with all the wires and metal poking out. “It looks like a cyber frisbee.”

“I promise we have not been wasting our time!” Rei blurts out. “We worked on it solely in our off-duty hours. And it is not a cyber frisbee.”

“It's a tracking device,” Kou explains. “The shape is conceived in a way that you can throw it at a ship from a short distance without having to touch the hull. It latches on with these magnets and these suction cups over here,” she waves her hand over the device, “and then this scanner recognises the colour of the hull and adapts to it, making it practically invisible. It's only a prototype though. We still need some time to finalise it.”

Makoto blinks. “People have already told you that you're a genius, Kou, right?”

She grins. “Never hurts to hear it. Though Rei did help out quite a bit.”

“What do I hear? Rei-chan helped build a tracking device?” Nagisa's voice is unmistakable even over the communicator. Makoto wants to ask why there needs to be a channel open to the bridge right now, but Rei's answer is faster.

“It must be your ingenuity and creative spirit rubbing off on me, Nagisa-kun,” he says with a smug smile.

There's baffled silence on the other end.

“I think you broke him,” Rin's voice finally crackles through the speakers. Immediately, Rei's eyes widen.

“What? Did I say something wrong?”

“No, no, you said exactly the right thing. I'm closing the channel now though. There's a route to calculate, and we won't be getting anything done like this.”

Kou raises an eyebrow after the comm has gone silent. “Since when is Rin interested in getting anything done?”

“Seems like leaving him in charge of the ship every once in a while helps his sense of responsibility,” Makoto muses. “Ah, speaking of which, Rei. I have news regarding Haru.”

Rei looks vaguely alarmed. “His health is fine, I hope? The test results don't show anything different.”

“No, it's not about his health.” There really isn't any roundabout way to phrase it, so Makoto just goes ahead and says it. “Nagisa has been bringing him more and more maps and statistics. He can't read, obviously, but he's asked for a pen and started scribbling down numbers, and well. It looks like he has a pretty developed concept of mathematics.”

Rei's jaw drops comically. “Mathematics.”

“He also makes very nice drawings”, Makoto adds, just for the record.

Rei runs a hand through his hair, looking equal parts distressed and excited. “This. This is big,” he mutters. “Someone must have educated him. There is probably an entire culture down there that we know nothing about. They might have knowledge of things we cannot even fathom – ”

“Yeah, I was thinking,” Makoto interrupts him before Rei's wild imagination can take over, “he'd make a good navigator.”

Rei halts in his mutterings. “You're not thinking of hiring him, are you?”

“Is it that absurd of an idea to have?”

There must be something more on his face than Makoto is aware of, because Rei suddenly moves to stand in front of him and puts a hand on his shoulder.

“He's still a different species,” he says with a frown. “Please keep that in mind, Makoto-senpai.”

Makoto swallows, not entirely sure what is being implied. “I will.”

 

–

 

“Makoto.”

Makoto only registers the frantic signing after the third or fourth time. Haru's other hand is damp on his shoulder, gently shaking him awake. It has kind of become a routine for him to fall asleep by the pool cage, but usually he lets the sun wake him; now the sky is still dark, waiting for dawn.

“What is it?”

Haru looks terribly serious, face only inches away. “There's a storm coming.”

A cold shiver runs down Makoto's spine. He sits up immediately. “Can we avoid it?”

“I don't know. It's moving very fast. We can try, but we might still get caught.”

Makoto drags a hand down his face; his limbs feel numb, but he knows he can't give in to his fears right now. “I'll wake Rin and Nagisa to get us out of here, and maybe Kou to help me store away the pool cage – You can stay in the lab for now –“

“No,” Haru signs quickly, then squeezes his arm. “I'd like to be on the bridge.”

“Why?”

“With you. Please,” he adds.

“Okay.” Makoto nods, breathing deeply. “Okay.” He lifts Haru into his arms and carries him into the bridge room, not missing how Haru's hands around his neck rub small circles into his back. It's incredibly soothing, and by the time Makoto bursts into Rin's cabin he doesn't feel like hyperventilating anymore.

“Rin,” he hisses, shaking his first officer awake. “Wake up. There's a storm approaching.”

Rin groans sleepily and turns over. He does open one eye, though. “How do you know?”

“Haru said so. He can sense this stuff.”

That gets Rin's attention. “Well, shit.”

He tries to get off his bed, but it isn't easy, since, as Makoto only now notices, Sousuke's arm is wrapped tightly around his torso. He stifles a grin. Rin sighs and sinks back into the bed, trying to pry the constricting arm off.

“Two minutes,” he grumbles.

Makoto nods and takes off. He makes a quick stop at the vet lab to make sure everything is attached to the wall or stowed away properly, in case they really do get hit by a violent wave or two, but Rei has left everything in perfect order as usual. He then drags a cursing Kou out of bed who, despite her sleepy appearance, still manages to deconstruct almost the entire pool cage by herself in a mere six minutes, leaving Makoto to carry the wire back to the engine room. He's pretty positive she could have actually done it in her sleep.

When he gets back on the bridge, Nagisa, Rin and Haru are already hunched over one of the maps on the table. Nagisa is busy scribbling things down and adjusting data points on his computer now and again, while Rin and Haru converse in fast and precise gestures. Both of their heads snap up when they see Makoto.

“It's pretty close already,” Rin says darkly. “You can't really see it because the sun isn't up, but if you look carefully it's there.” He jerks his thumb towards his communication station. “I've contacted the other ships in the area, and of fucking course, none of them have noticed anything. We're trying to plot the best course away –“

“Working on it,” Nagisa chimes in without looking up.

“– but I know literally nothing about navigating, and the only info we have is whatever Haru can sense.”

“Sorry,” the merman signs.

“Not your fault,” Makoto and Rin answer in unison. They look at each other; Rin snorts out a laugh.

“I mean, if I die today, at least it'll be in good company.”

They don't die, of course they don't, but they don't quite manage to avoid the storm either. By the time the waves start hitting their ship, everyone is awake and on the bridge, even Sousuke who has been known to sleep through these kinds of events rather soundly. Rei is slightly pale around the nose – it is his first mission, after all – but it's nothing compared to Makoto. His head is relatively clear, in a detached sort of way, but his legs refuse to move, and his arms feel like thousands of small spiders are walking over them. He knows his face must be completely white, as are his knuckles from gripping the back of a chair. Staring out into the harsh waves, mercilessly grey in the light of dawn, he wonders how much longer until his knees give out when he feels a hand close around his wrist. It's Haru's, obviously, because the chair is the one he's sitting in, tail gently swaying back and forth. His eyes are on the raging sea, as well, shining with curiosity, but he's lightly stroking the back of Makoto's hand as if to calm him. Makoto remembers what he said about dangerous things being beautiful and wonders if that's why he wanted to be on the bridge so badly.

Nagisa must have plotted them a damn good course because the worst part is over after about twenty minutes, but Makoto knows this is where the potential problems start. As soon as the waves have calmed down and the sky is clear again, he heads outside with Kou for damage control.

Of course there's a giant crack in the hull. Of course it's underwater.

Of course, Haru offers his help to fix it.

Makoto has the decency to shoot Rei an apologetic look.

_I'm trying not to hire him, but what if he does it himself?_

 

–

 

Kou and Haru make an excellent team, what with Kou's precise instructions and Haru's deft fingers, and Makoto estimates that they'll be good to go in about three days. Rei tries to help where he can, as well, obviously taking his cross-specialising very seriously.

“You can do it, Rei-chan!” Nagisa cheers him on from the bridge room. Rei turns around and flashes him a brilliant smile.

“You should ask him out,” Makoto mentions as casually as possible. Nagisa leans back in his seat and stretches his arms.

“Are you kidding me? He's way out of my league.”

_At least he's the same species_ , is what pops into Makoto's mind. He doesn't say it, of course.

They've attached the pool cage to the side of the ship again, so in the late afternoon that day Makoto goes out to visit Haru. The sun has dried off most of the deck, and the merman is floating on his back, enjoying the rays of light. When he hears Makoto's footsteps he lifts his head and smiles in greeting.

“How are the repairs going?” Makoto asks, settling down with his legs in the water. “Do you like this kind of work?”

“It's very interesting,” Haru replies. “Seeing all these different tricks that humans use to swim.”

Makoto bites his lip. “You're not over-exerting yourself, right?”

“My wounds have healed, if that's what you mean.”

“What about the wounds we can't see?”

Haru exhales slowly through his nose; the faint smile is still on his face. “Getting better. Let's hope that the people aboard the Iwatobi spend the money they get from selling my fins on something useful.”

Makoto tells himself that it can't be too bad if Haru can joke about it. “That's good to hear.” He pauses. “You smile a lot more these days. You didn't do that in the beginning.”

Haru blinks, taken aback by this observation. “Mermaids usually... We don't smile. It's not part of our communication.” The smile spreads back over his features, a bit wider this time. “Must have picked it up from you. You smile all the time.”

Makoto feels the back of his neck grow warm. “Not _all_ the time...”

“You should come into the water with me.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Right now?”

“Yes.” Haru raises an eyebrow back. “Rin has been swimming with me, you know. The sea's not going to eat you.”

Makoto would beg to differ, but he knows that there isn't anything to fear, really, and Haru's eyes are way too bright in the fading sunlight to refuse anyway. He slips out of his shirt and his shorts and slides into the water before he can change his mind. Haru swims over to him, looking a little bit surprised. Makoto grins, the cold embrace of the water overriding his fears for now.

“What, you thought I wasn't going to do it?”

Haru is right in front of him. They're both treading water; Makoto briefly wonders how it would feel to have a dolphin tail instead of legs.

There's a hand running down his upper arm.

“We're the same, like that,” Haru signs, and it's true; with their lower halves completely submerged nobody could tell the difference.

Makoto swallows and smiles faintly. “Not really, though.”

Haru's eyes fix him far too intensely before he glances away.

“Let me pretend for a while.”

 

–

 

“Are you ready to depart?”

“Nearly. Kou and Haru are still finishing the last touches on the hull.”

There's a startled gasp on the other end. “Haru? You mean, the merman? _Haru the merman is helping with the repairs_?”

Makoto winces. “Ah, that detail may have slipped my mind last time.”

He knows Amakata-san is probably shaking her head right now. “Really, Tachibana, I don't regret assigning this ship and this mission to you, but sometimes I can't tell whether you're a genius or a complete moron.”

“You didn't call me just to tell me that, right?”

“No, you knew that already. I've received a distress call from the Aqua Gate.” She pauses. “Two of their crew members have gone missing a few miles away from your ship. I've sent Shigino off with the helicopter to localise them; he'll be in contact as you as soon as he has them. You're on standby until you receive the coordinates. This has top priority.”

“Of course,” Makoto promises. “We'll get them back.”

It's easier said than done, but Shigino Kisumi is easily the best pilot Makoto has ever met, so just a few hours later he's sitting in their rescue motorboat, along with Sousuke and a radio channel open to Rin and Kisumi.

Sousuke, as per usual, is silent, carefully observing their surroundings with a pair of binoculars, and avoiding any type of casual conversation. He may have the social skills of a sea cucumber but Makoto wouldn't want anyone else beside him on the mission team.

“They're twenty degrees south of your position,” comes Kisumi's voice through the radio. Sousuke frowns.

“Does one of them have really orange hair?”

“Yeah, Mikoshiba Momo does.”

“Then I think I see them.” He points Makoto in the correct direction so he can steer the boat around.

They're coming closer to their target, and now Makoto can see them too: two figures floating in the water. One of them is clearly alive and moving, but the other one, the one with the red hair, seems to have lost consciousness. They'll have to be fast. Makoto pushes the bar forward when suddenly, something on the horizon catches his eye.

“Kisumi,” he says into the radio. “There wouldn't happen to be anything right ahead of us? At about the same distance to the two crew members, but farther south?”

“What? Hang on, let me check.” There's a little bit of silence, then: “Oh, shit.”

“What?” hisses Rin. “What the hell is going on?”

“It's the Samezuka.”

 

–

 

Everything happens way too fast after that. The little motor boat reaches the two crew members quickly, but getting them aboard safely takes some time, especially the unconscious Momo. By the time he and the other one, Nitori Ai, are out of danger and ready to be brought back to the Ever Blue, the Samezuka has gotten dangerously close.

Or rather, perfectly close, Makoto realises. The weight of Kou and Rei's tracking device – an improved version – is heavy in his pocket. On impulse, he makes a decision.

“Rin, tell Nagisa to turn the ship around,” he orders into his radio. “Do not let the Samezuka see you. Kisumi, get out of sight, too.”

Sousuke frowns at him. “The hell, Makoto?”

Makoto ignores him for now; the Samezuka is almost at ideal throwing range. He turns the motor boat around, ready to leave immediately, then stands up and hurls the cyber frisbee forward in one fluid motion.

That's when he sees the guy with the rifle.

It's the last thing he sees, actually, before a searing pain shoots through his leg and his vision goes dark.

 

–

 

The next time Makoto wakes up, it's to a giant pair of very blue, very inhuman eyes. He feels warm all over, which means he can't be dead, but the surface he's lying on is too hard to be his bed; probably one of the vet lab tables.

He wants to ask Haru – because it has to be Haru – why their faces are so damn close when a hand curls around his jaw lightly. Haru is still staring at him, unblinking. Belatedly, Makoto realises he might be trying to take his pulse; he can hear it rush through his ears. After nearly a minute, Haru seems satisfied, closes his eyes and falls asleep immediately.

Makoto tries to sit up, Haru's abnormally warm hand sliding away from his jaw to land on the table. Immediately, Rei is there to steady him.

“Makoto-senpai!” he exclaims. “How is your leg?”

There's a dull ache, but nothing like the sharp pain he felt before. “It hurts a little bit. Otherwise I'm fine.”

Rei breathes out. “Good. I didn't want to put you on any more painkillers.”

Makoto nods thankfully and looks around the room. To his left, there's the guy called Momo lying on another table, wrapped in a thermal blanket and apparently sleeping; to his right are Rin and Sousuke, both with (albeit very different) looks of relief on their face.

Makoto stares at them, then at the sleeping merman beside him. He's trying to put the pieces together, but it's not working. “What...”

“Okay, get ready for this,” Rin starts immediately. “So after your completely crazy and reckless and _fucking genius_ stunt out there, this one Samezuka asshole shoots your leg, you hit your head on the side of the motor boat and fall into the water halfway, but Sousuke somehow manages to fish you out and bring all of you back here without getting completely lost –“

“I'm not that bad,” Sousuke grumbles.

“– probably because he had Ai's help, whatever. They drag you and Momo on board, and during the commotion Haru sees what's going on and won't shut the fuck up until we allow him to stay with you, so we carry the three of you down to Rei, and then it turns out Momo is so close to dying from hypothermia that he needs all of the heat blankets we have, but it also turns out that you're _also_ pretty close to dying from hypothermia, and –”

“Makoto-senpai, I do not know _how_ he did it,” Rei cuts in, “but Haru-san, he regulated his body temperature up – I had no idea this was even possible in mammals, it went far beyond what one would expect for a normal fever –”

“So, we put him down next to you as your personal radiator, and apparently he's burned all the energy he has so yeah.” Rin finishes with a grin. “We're all glad you're alive, but you really owe dolphin guy one.”

Makoto can't help staring. His glance falls back to Haru.

“He self-induced a fever to warm me?”

“More than a fever,” Rei corrects. “I think he used his tail somehow. A human would have died.”

Makoto brushes a few strands of hair back from Haru's forehead. “That was reckless,” he says.

Sousuke frowns. “So was whatever you pulled. What the hell were you thinking?”

It occurs to Makoto that this is probably not the tone any crew member should use to address their captain; then again, Sousuke has a point. And also just saved his life.

“Well, I figured, we were never going to get a chance like this again. The Samezuka, that's an even bigger fish to fry than the Iwatobi we lost.”

“Pun not intended, I hope,” Rin mutters.

Sousuke's eyes narrow. “No matter what Amakata says, you don't have to prove yourself, Makoto. We're here to protect lives and that includes yours.”

He smiles faintly; the painkillers seem to be making him a bit dizzy. “You did protect my life.”

Speaking of which, Haru must have used the last five minutes to cool his body back down and somehow rest all of the stress off because he's stirring awake again.

“Are you okay?” is his first question. When Makoto nods, Haru pushes himself up on his elbows and sits up, Rei rushing to his side to take his temperature.

“So,” the merman continues, this time addressing everyone in the room. “The Samezuka. How do we...?”

His hands make a crushing motion.

A wide toothy grin stretches over Rin's face. “I like the way you think.”

Rei, apparently, doesn't like it so much. “What – there is _absolutely no way_ I'm letting Makoto-senpai go on a mission in this state –”

“Of course he's not going, duh,” Rin makes. “I'll remind you that his second-in-command is a very capable mission team member and also pretty thirsty for revenge.”

“But communications –“

“Nagisa can do that, Kou can navigate, _that's why we have this rotation system_ –“

“I suppose,” Makoto cuts in, “it would be a waste to have that tracking device on the Samezuka and not use it.”

“I'm in,” Sousuke says.

“I want to join you,” Haru signs at the same time.

Rei's jaw falls open. “Haru-san, you are recovering from an _intense self-induced potentially deadly fever_ –“

“You can come,” Rin decides.

“Is anyone on this ship ever going to listen to me?!”

Makoto swallows; he doesn't like the idea of Haru going on a mission, but the merman deserves closure, and he really has proved himself over the time they've known each other.

“On one condition. I'll be on the bridge with a channel open. You are to tell me exactly what happens, and when I tell you to come back, then you _come back_.”

Rin hops off his chair with far too much enthusiasm and bloodlust in his eyes. “Aye, captain. I'll get ready.” He's halfway out of the door, then hurries back to grab Rei's elbow. “You're coming with me. The lack of sleep is making you jumpy.”

“I'm not jumpy!” Rei protests while being dragged off.

Sousuke is left in the corner, kind of awkwardly standing around. “Well then.”

Suddenly Haru reaches out and grabs his sleeve. “Thank you for saving Makoto,” he signs.

Sousuke raises his eyebrows and looks at his captain, equally embarrassed and confused. “Uh. What did he say?”

Wait a minute. “You don't speak sign?” Makoto seriously hadn't even considered that. Understanding dawns on Haru's face.

“Well, they only teach JSL in communication and all of the medical tracks. I just did navigation and mission team.”

“But Kou – “

“Oh come on. It's _Kou_.”

“Why didn't you...” Makoto trails off, realising it really isn't any of his business. “He said thank you. For saving my life. I second that, by the way.”

Sousuke's mouth opens, then closes again. He rubs the back of his neck. “I didn't really... Look, just be more careful next time, okay?”

Then he's off. Belatedly, Makoto realises no one remembered to carry Haru back outside. With a sigh, he slides down onto the lab table.

“Why did you do that?” he mumbles, accompanying signs barely more than a sketch. Haru lays down again, as well; his head rests against Makoto's shoulder.

“I'm not letting you die, either.”

 

–

 

The adrenaline coursing through his veins is almost enough to make Makoto forget the pain in his leg.

“We're closing in,” comes Sousuke's voice through the radio.

Makoto grips the edge of Nagisa's seat. “Any snipers?”

“They've just spotted us, I think they're preparing water cannons or something. Must have gotten cold feet about shooting people when they saw you fall.” There's a short pause. “Rin has thrown the first stun grenade.”

Nagisa immediately turns the radio volume down to the lowest setting so that the bang isn't too deafening for them.

“Everything alright, Sou-chan?” he asks a few seconds later.

“It worked,” comes the reply. “I'm holding the rope; Rin and Haru have taken the jet ski to the other side. He's throwing more stun grenades now. I'll see if I can distract them with some BTA.”

Their plan, first and foremost, is disabling the vessel. With a big ship like the Samezuka, going on board like they did with the Iwatobi is unthinkable, especially since they don't have any blueprints, so their only option is distracting the crew on board with light, sound and smell while trying to tangle a rope into the ship's propeller to block and break it. Makoto is adamant about not hurting anyone, so he has both Kisumi's helicopter and the Ever Blue's motor boat with Rei and Kou on standby in case anybody goes overboard.

“Rin?” he hisses.

“Working on it,” Rin shout against the roaring wind of the sea. “The bastards on board have their hands full, but the rope isn't catching like we want it to.”

There's a moment of silence, then a quiet string of curses. “Oh, that –“

“ _What_ ,” Makoto demands sharply.

“It's Haru, he's diving under the ship – I can't see him anymore – that crazy fishboy, he's probably trying to shove the rope into the propeller himself – “

Makoto slams his hand on the table because he should have known it, he should have _fucking known it_ –

“Tug him back in, _get him back_ , that's why he has the line!”

“Hang on, I'm trying – “

Makoto holds his breath. His thoughts are a continuous stream of _not Haru, not like that, not now, he can do it, he has to, oh God it's my fault –_

There's a moment of silence. Then: “Shit. Holy mother of Jesus on a tricycle.”

“ _What_?”

“He did it, Mako, he fucking did it, the rope is catching, there's no way the Samezuka is getting anywhere after that – ”

He allows himself a second of relief, just one. It almost makes him cry. “Good. Now _get your fucking asses back here_.”

Everybody knows that Makoto almost never swears, except when he's really tense, so Nagisa whirls around on his chair and pulls him into a fierce hug that almost makes him topple over.

After directing the two jet skis back to the Ever Blue, they get out of the bridge room to wait for their mission team, with Makoto heavily leaning on Nagisa. He slips down to the floor as soon as they're at the railing.

Sousuke is the first one to get on board; Nagisa latches onto him immediately, screaming in delight.

“You did it!”

“Hell yeah we did!” comes Rin's reply, who hurries to get back on board as well. He throws his arms around Makoto and bumps their foreheads together, then joins Nagisa in his endeavour of hugging the hell out of Sousuke.

Within a second though, he's back to help Makoto drag the third member of their team aboard.

Haru is shaking when he reaches for Makoto's and Rin's hands, and his skin seems strangely pale, but his eyes are shining with triumph. They haul him onto the ship where he sinks right into Makoto's arms.

Makoto's pretty sure he has never felt more relieved in his life.

 

–

 

Understandably, the entire crew is in festive mode tonight, so it takes a while longer than usual for everyone to get tired and finally go to sleep. Makoto already knows he won't be able to stay in his bed, so he hobbles outside and towards the pool cage. Of course, Haru is there, waiting for him.

“Are you okay?” Makoto signs, predictably. “You looked kind of pale when you came back.”

“I think it was the water around the Samezuka,” Haru replies. Makoto's leg is bandaged and he can't hang it into the water, which is why instead of assuming his usual position on Makoto's lap, Haru hoists himself up on the edge of the ship next to him. “It felt kind of gross.”

“Probably their engines,” Makoto guesses. “We're running on solar, so we don't have that.”

“I'll ask Kou to explain that to me.”

“She'll love to. Her fiancée helped develop the technology, you know.” Makoto chews on his lower lip for a bit. “You were really great today. We couldn't have done it without you.”

“I think I get now what you meant the other day,” Haru says. “This is bigger.”

“Shouldn't be too surprising. Whales _are_ the biggest living vertebrates on Earth.”

Haru snorts. “Very funny.”

“Have you ever seen one? A whale, I mean.”

“Have you?”

Makoto goes through his memories. “Twice. One time, it was just a tail fin disappearing back into the sea. The other time it was dead.”

Haru nods solemnly. “I know a few.”

“You mean, _personally_? How are they?”

“Alright, I guess. Very polite. One of them once offered me half of her lunch. Definitely worth protecting. Then again, nearly everything is.”

“What isn't, then?”

The answer is immediate. “Sea lice.”

That gets a laugh out of Makoto. Haru's smirking in that non-smirking way of his, his hand absently trailing down the seam of Makoto's jeans.

“How is your leg?”

“Fine. Better. It will leave a scar.” Makoto shrugs, trying to cover up how his skin tingles at Haru's touch. “We will be even more alike then.”

Haru stills, considering this. He turns a bit more to face Makoto.

“Don't be like me. I like it when you're you.”

Haru is looking at him with wide and earnest eyes that have Makoto wondering whether this is a confession of some sort, and when the hell his heart has started beating so fast, and why he doesn't remember how to breathe properly. There's that hand curling around his jaw again, except this time, he's pretty sure it has nothing to do with his pulse.

When he leans in, Haru meets him halfway.

Makoto doesn't know if kissing is even part of something mermaids do, but Haru got the hang of smiling and he's getting the hang of this, too, moving his lips against Makoto's and making soft noises that make him wrap his arms around Haru and want to never let go. He parts his mouth a little bit; it tastes like saltwater, predictably.

Makoto didn't know that something could remind him so much of the ocean and still be so amazing.

He remembers hearing in a lecture that dolphins can hold their breaths for fifteen minutes, and he really doesn't want to test whether that might be true for Haru, as well. Still, he regrets pulling away, even though he's rewarded with the sight of Haru staring at him like he just single-handedly dismantled the entire worldwide whaling industry.

Another thing that Makoto didn't know was that he could feel giddy and yet completely hopeless at the same time, as the reality of their situation pushes itself back into his mind.

He sighs and rests his forehead against Haru's.

“What are we going to do?”

Haru drops his gaze for a few seconds. When he looks back up, the expression on his face is equal parts shy and mischievous.

“I don't know about you,” he starts. “But I was thinking, veterinary sciences and navigation. Or maybe technology, I'm not sure yet.”

Makoto doesn't really believe his eyes, but he has to because his brain has clearly stopped working altogether.

“Well.” He swallows, hard, and lets the giddiness spread a large grin over his face. “I'd better start looking for a flat that's closer to the sea then.”

Maybe he can't tell yet how exactly this will work out, but he can believe it's going to be alright.

 

 

 


End file.
